Pycom is a young company producing small modules supporting multiple network topologies. Partly funded through a few Kickstarter campaigns they are now up and running. The goal of their products is to enable easy access to the Internet of Things (IoT). To achieve this goal they have crammed as much wireless network technology as possible into a few small modules and made them programmable with MicroPython.

Five years ago (on 29 February 2012, to be exact) the original Raspberry Pi was unveiled – on this celebrated first day the available stock was sold out within a few minutes, more than 100,000 boards were ordered and the web shops of Farnell and RS Components where unavailable for while because of the high demand...

Applications based around "something with microcontrollers" increasingly use a link to a smartphone to provide the GUI. Light switches can be operated from the iPhone, a rain sensor sited in your back garden can relay information to an Android device. For developers however such an app can be relatively complex but now help is at hand with Smart.IO...

On Kickstarter a campaign has been started for the RokBlok, which, in their own words, is the world's smallest wireless record player. And it is also portable. It is really a “Soundwagon”, but one with Bluetooth functionality.

Creator Ci40 Kit is an Internet of Things (IoT) kit intended to get you quickly up and running with connected applications. The board has at its heart a cXT200 dual-core, dual-threaded 550 MHz MIPS (yes, not ARM) InterAptiv processor. Connectivity is key and the board supports several low-power wireless and wired protocols, including 802.15.4 6LoWPAN, 802.11 ac 2×2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (LE & Classic) and Ethernet.

A team of computer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has developed a new wireless communication technology that allows mobile devices to work much longer from a single battery charge with short wireless links. Among other things, the new technology is targeted at devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, which typically have a small battery and therefore a short operating time between charges.

Up to now there hasn't been a true digital replacement for the tape measure, which just about everyone has in their toolbox. That’s set to change with the Bagel, which features a clever combination of several measurement modes. The Bagel campaign on Kickstarter is very popular and has already raised more than $700,000.

Like everyone else in the IoT arena, Avnet-Silica (Av-Si hereafter) have a get-u-going starter kit, and it was launched At Embedded World 2016. I received the Bluetooth Smart Connectivity version (# VT-SK-001-A101), the other versions are for LoRaWAN and SIGFOX. All three kits have the same purpose: smartphone in hand, read out a bunch of sensors located anywhere in the world. And press some buttons if an interesting or alarming situation is noticed.

Windows smartphones have recently been gaining a noticeable market share. The new Windows Mobile 10 operating system allows you to use a Windows phone or tablet as a controller for your own projects in various ways. For example, it is possible to communicate with an Arduino board over USB or Bluetooth, and Microsoft provides a suitable library to help you.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the next stage towards the all-embracing networking of machines and devices to one another — what people call M2M or machine-to-machine communication. A significant criterion is the range of the wireless technology employed. In this respect classic short-range wireless systems like WLAN or Bluetooth provide a range of only a few meters, whilst classic ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) band radio can manage up to a kilometer. LoRa is a solution that reaches out still further.